42 
THE PROSPECTS OP THE FARMERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
vines, corn stalks, or vegetables in the yard, with I 
free access■to pure water, with a supply of salt,! 
lime, ashes, and sulphur, with a daily ramble in the 
pasture for a few hours, where easily accessible, or 
if not, then as often as practicable, would undoubt¬ 
edly most effectually secure the greatest quantity 
of rich milk. 
THE PROSPECTS OF THE FARMERS OF 
THE UNITED STATES. 
We think we can discern in the causes of the 
present price of products, a reasonably prosperous 
condition for the agriculturists of the United States 
for some years to come. The crops throughout a 
considerable portion of Europe have been seriously 
diminished during the past season, and to such an 
extent as to have created a large demand for vari¬ 
ous articles of produce from our own country. 
Owing to a bad season, the wheat and other grain 
crops, not only of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 
but also on the continent, have been somewhat de¬ 
ficient; while the potato rot has cut short this 
main article of food from large masses of the popu¬ 
lation. The north of Europe, from which large 
supplies of grain are annually drawn, has partaken 
to no inconsiderable extent in a deficiency of crop, 
while the region of the Black Sea, which annually 
exports largely, has at least not augmented its 
production. The millions are to be fed abroad, and 
to no other country can they look for a full supply 
of food but to our own. Added to the unusual de¬ 
ficiency of the Eastern hemisphere, a rapidly grow¬ 
ing demand has sprung up in Europe of late years 
for different items of American production, such as 
salted beef and pork, lard, lard oil, tallow, hides, 
butter, cheese, wool, &c., which has relieved our 
home market of all the surplus produce at remune¬ 
rating prices. This demand is constantly aug¬ 
menting, and the active, prosperous condition of 
foreign manufactures has rendered their continual 
importation a matter of absolute certainty. 
The operation of our late tariff has, on the other 
hand, diverted no inconsiderable portion of our 
former agricultural classes into manufacturers, who 
have thus shifted sides, and become consumers, in¬ 
stead of producers . So long as this policy shall 
he persisted in, a healthy division of the industrial 
classes of our country will be maintained, and the 
ordinary products of our farmers will continue to 
command fair prices; while the increasing de¬ 
mand for various articles for their use, hitherto but 
little cultivated among us, will gradually induce 
their production to a large extent, and at profitable 
prices. Among these are silk, hemp, flax, in¬ 
digo, &c. 
There is in addition, every probability of some 
relaxation in the very stringent policy of Great 
Britain, in regard to the admission of some of our 
agricultural staples, such as w r heat, flour, and pota¬ 
toes, and especially in the almost free admission of 
maize, or Indian corn. Should this anticipation be 
realized, we may confidently rely on a large and 
permanent demand for these staples at such prices 
as will afford a most satisfactory return to the pro¬ 
ducer. The exhaustion of the ordinary supply in 
Europe, from the present deficiency, cannot be 
wholly obviated by another season’s full crop. 
I The magazines of grain abroad, which are provi- 
! dentially filled through successive years of excess 
of production, will have been nearly or quite ex¬ 
hausted before the next harvest, and the minimum 
of price then will not have been reached, till seve¬ 
ral good crops have been secured. Add to this, 
population in Europe is rapidly multiplying under 
the favoring influences of universal peace; and it 
has in many sections already reached that point, 
when agriculture, in the present state of its sci¬ 
ence and practice, is barely sufficient to enable pro¬ 
duction to meet the demands of the citizens now 
extensively engaged in manufactures, commerce, 
and the various arts. 
To the inhabitants of the west and southwestern 
States of the Union, an additional cause of remune¬ 
ration will be found in the increasing facilities and 
diminished rates for conveying their products to 
market. New and spacious avenues are opening 
in various directions, by which their produce will 
find a direct and economical transmission to the 
large eastern markets. Among these are the Wa¬ 
bash canal, already navigable some 200 miles, but 
soon to be completed from the permanently naviga¬ 
ble waters of that river to Lake Erie, some 300 
miles; the Maumee canal, connecting Cincinnati 
and Lake Erie, which, with the former, are direct 
highways for western Ohio, and nearly all of In¬ 
diana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and a part of 
Arkansas and Alabama; the Illinois canal, to be 
finished within the present year, and capable of 
yielding similar facilities to Illinois, Iowa, and 
Missouri. 
Railroads, too, are starting into life in different 
directions in the west, and opening their iron 
thoroughfares for the accommodation of our west¬ 
ern farmers, who thus have facilities for the trans¬ 
mission of various perishable articles to distant 
markets, where they can arrive uninjured, and find 
a profitable sale, which the hitherto tardy means of 
conveyance rendered impossible. 
Under all the circumstances of the prospect be¬ 
fore us, we may confidently say to our farmers, 
without some material and adverse policy in the 
administration of our own national affairs, your 
prospects are bright for the immediate future. Our 
monetary and industrial system is in a most 
healthy condition; reason and common sense have 
resumed their reign throughout the country ; the le¬ 
gitimate avenues of agriculture, foreign and domes¬ 
tic commerce, manufactures, and the various arts, 
are all appropriately filled, and in successful prose¬ 
cution. It is in the power of the agriculturists of 
the country to keep them where they are. The 
balance of power is with you. If true to your own 
interests, and you rigidly adhere to our present 
wise system, a long and bright career of prosperity 
is before you. Your destiny is in your own 
hands; and it is for you to watch carefully the ad¬ 
ministration of public affairs, and see to it that no 
false theoretical principles of government, no ram¬ 
pant or unhallowed ambition, whether national or 
individual, be permitted to thrust disorder into our 
present beneficent system, and snatch from you the 
legitimate fruits of your own skill and industry 
—lay your plans at once for an increased produc¬ 
tion in every department of your farming opera- 
